Can MAHA succeed as a government mandate?

Courage in a Time of Fear

written by

Sam Fisher

posted on

March 19, 2020

A time of uncertainty such as the one we’re in always brings out the best and worst of one’s true character, as well as what we prioritize. Many of us know nothing but a life of relative ease. True, we all have our challenges, but we know little of genuine hunger, abject poverty, or ongoing inadequacy of basic needs. This is, I feel, the reason why society responds in panic to the uncertainty we find ourselves in—because we have little experience to compare this unknown phenomenon to.

The typical human response to our situation—and perhaps we’re steeped in this direction—is desire to place blame or point fingers. However, while there may or may not be individuals who are liable in this, the action in itself is futile because it doesn’t change the position we’re in and placing blame usually leads to a victim mentality—or perhaps stems from it. Considering yourself a victim promotes both fear and hopelessness, which in turn causes the human brain to introvert. The result is unsound, uninformed decision making (such as unrestrained hoarding of toilet paper).

In his timeless bestseller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey presents the benefit of proactivity. He defines proactivity as more than merely taking initiative. It means that as human beings, we are responsible for our own lives. Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions. Feelings are secondary to values. I almost wish I could impart all he has to say in his chapter; The 1st Habit; Be Proactive, because there’s so much that’s applicable to the current state of affairs.

He also writes about our circle of influence as compared to our circle of concern. Given the current shutdown and viral threat, we’re all concerned about how it will affect our lives, families, and businesses. However, if we focus on our circle of concern, it grows while our circle of influence shrinks, and vice versa. He depicts it like this;

Circle of Influence, Circle of Concern

As we look at the concerns in our lives, it becomes apparent that there are some things over which we have no real control and others that we can do something about. We could identify the concerns in the latter group as being within our circle of influence.

Proactive people focus their efforts in the Circle of Influence. They work on the things they can do something about. The nature of their energy is positive, enlarging and magnifying, causing their Circle of Influence to increase.

Reactive people, on the other hand, focus their efforts in the Circle of Concern. They focus on the weakness of other people, the problems in the environment, and circumstances over which they have no control. Their focus results in blaming and accusing attitudes, reactive language, and increased feelings of victimization. The negative energy generated by that focus, combined with neglect in areas they could do something about, causes their Circle of Influence to shrink. As long as we’re working in our circle of concern, we empower the things in it to control us. We aren’t taking the proactive initiative necessary to effect positive change.

Right now many of us are being forced to rethink and reevaluate the level of normalcy we were accustomed to, and the question begs as to what you and I can do to effect hope and positive change amid the fear and frenzy. To that extent I suggest.

  • Take the chaos propagated by the mainstream media—as well as social media, with a grain of salt, and seek wisdom and common sense. There’s a lot of opinion passing and spreading of conspiracy theories—none of which we know whether they are true or not. Remain realistic but avoid negativity.
  • If you haven’t done so already, prepare an emergency fund large enough to provide for several months of no income. Honestly, I speak to myself on this subject, and realize it’s not an easy thing. But prepping for crisis should come as naturally as night following day, and that the average American can’t even handle a 2-week bobble in pay shows our luxurious free-for-all living in recent decades. We’re the 3rd and 4th generations to live in prosperous times, and it has conditioned us into an easy-come-easy-go mentality.
  • Put real effort into strengthening personal immunity, which is perhaps your greatest weapon against illness.  It’s far more important than social distancing, hand sanitizing, or wearing a mask. Taking charge of your personal immunity program should be front and center.  That means not doing the things that compromise it, and doing the things that enhance it. This includes avoiding stress (forgiving, avoiding vengeance and hate– including political); getting enough sleep (everyone should be in bed by 10 p.m.); a good diet—avoid junk food; eat plenty of meat and poultry and eggs from a trustworthy source (sorry, I couldn’t resist); exercise; stay hydrated.
  • Build a domestic larder, which allows you to eat better, cheaper, and more efficiently. Laying by is what all of our grandparents did; it was just part of the culture.  Now we expect Costco to do it for us, only to be disappointed when their stock quickly runs out in a period of uncertainty.  If this whole pandemic does nothing more than re-institute the value of the in-home larder and make us have more consideration for our buying habits, it will be well worth it.
  • If you’re off work or working limited hours, invest in personal development. Learn how to cook or preserve food so you can eat healthier while spending less. If you have children, educate yourself on the subjects of homeschooling, childhood vaccination, herbal medicine, and home births, which will allow you to make informed choices now and, in the future, as well as foster resilience in yourself and your family. Read books on personal growth such as 7 Habits by Stephen Covey and Good to Great by Jim Collins. Take your children for a walk in a natural area. Watch the sunrise or sunset and appreciate the unchanging aspects of nature. Essentially, limit your screen time and news exposure, and do something positive with your hands and mind. It will do wonders to minimize worry and stress tied to our uncertain circumstances.
  • Last but not least, invest in the timeless qualities of faith, hope, and love. “And the Lord, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.” ~Deuteronomy 31:8. Even now, we have so much to be grateful for, and a lot to hope for. We have family members to love, and a God who cares for us and our situation.

Above all, let’s remember that regardless of the circumstances around us, no one owns our thoughts or mental capacity without our consent. If we allow ourselves to be consumed by the fear and hysteria that seemingly prevails because of a mere virus, we permit outside influences to direct us. As Mark Twain said, “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.” Until next time, this is The View from the Country.

Quotes Worth Re-Quoting –

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” ~ Nelson Mandela

“Courage is the greatest of all virtues, because if you haven’t courage, you may not have an opportunity to use any of the others.” ~ Samuel Johnson

More from the blog

A Bold Return to Giving A Damn

A Bold Return to Giving A Damn

Some time ago, a patron and friend recommended a book to me. As I’m wont to do when a book sounds interesting, I purchased it. And read it with much interest and pleasure. The title, the same as the title of this article—is interesting in itself—and the book even more so. Written by Will Harris, A Bold Return to Giving a Damn is the story of a piece of land being in the Harris family from 1866 to the present. The first two generations, of course, managed it successfully without chemicals or any of the agricultural tools of modern science, which means they produced food within the confines of nature, being forced to respect the natural cycles and yields nature offered. These two generations were livestock farmers that primarily marketed their product to local eaters—in a time when food was by necessity local. Will Harris’ father, however, introduced to synthetic nitrogen as a fertilizer in the 1940’s, steered the ranch into modern American agriculture, which is to say pesticides, herbicides, and synthetic nitrogen for the land. Parasiticides, antibiotics, and steroids for the cattle. Taking cattle from pasture into an on-farm feedlot, and selling the remaining beef calves into commodity markets rather than marketing them to local eaters. It’s the story of several generations of men who had work ethic, swagger, grit, savvy, and by the 4th generation, used “with impunity” (his words) the host of tools modern agribusiness offered, to the detriment of the natural resources in his care. Will, fourth-generation Harris, tells his story in what is part memoir, part manifesto, in a very entertaining writing style—course enough to show his macho irreligious Harris character, but well-worded and on-point in a way that brings out his vision for a friendlier and more responsible food and farming model. Here’s a brief glimpse; I was a very industrial cattleman. It was a system predisposed to excesses—and I loved that part of it. The alpha-male, testosterone-charged person that I was relished the chance to play hardball now that I had control of things on the farm, and the game came naturally to me… I had a foot on the pedal and a hand on the brake—high-carbohydrate, grain-based diets promoted super-fast growth, then pricey pharmaceutical drugs took down the painful bloat and liver infection that resulted. The results were hard to deny…I was a hard-pushing commodity cowboy and I’d mastered the skills better than just about anyone else around me. Until one day I looked around at what I was doing and said, This sucks. This sucks real bad. Starting to care about the resources in his care (giving a damn), according to the book, came from a completely non-religious point of view, rather a repulsion to his own overly aggressive use (abuse) of agri-chemicals, antibiotics, parasiticides, etc. He was not hurting financially, was debt-free, and paid plenty of taxes every year. In his words; I was sitting pretty, from anyone else’s perspective. But my perspective had changed—kind of like when a small corner of your house becomes the junk zone…and you realize it won’t ever go away unless you make a very conscious decision that This sucks. I am cleaning this s**t up! That’s how it was for me, nothing lofty or philosophical or grand. Just a C-student’s aha that he didn’t like what he was doing, and now he wasn’t going to do it anymore. The conclusion of "farming-this-way-is-wrong" when it doesn't stem from a moral or religious conviction, or from financial hardship is rare. Most people, I would say, come to regenerative farming and food production from either financial pressure or from something of a moral conviction. And yes, in a sense Will Harris had something of a moral dig when, as he writes; "One day in the fall of 1995, I stood at our corrals and watched a hundred head of five-hundred-pound calves get loaded on a double-deck eighteen-wheeler that would wrench them out of their coastal savannah eco-system and transport them to a massive feedlot thirteen hundred miles away in a very different eco-system, the high plains of Nebraska...I knew from two decade of experience what would happen when they left my farm: a thirty-hour ride with each steer jammed up against the next, deprived of food, water, or rest; the steers on the top deck peeing and shitting on the ones on the bottom. Transporting calves this way off the farm to big feedlots in Iowa or Nebraska was absolutely standard in our industry...But standing there looking at it on this particular day, something changed in me. I wish I could say that God spoke to me or that I saw a burning bush; but it wasn't that dramatic. It was just that something that had always felt reasonable and rational to me suddenly felt very wrong...It suddenly felt like raising your daughter to be a princess and then sending her to the whorehouse"  The book, to me, is a very enjoyable read, weaving in and out of where contemporary agriculture went wrong, the hard realities of reversing course, and the satisfaction of seeing—after a few decades, the results—on the farm, in the livestock, and in the community, of actually giving a damn about the outcome. Will Harris paints the story—in a personal way—of how reckless food and farming policies have vastly diminished America’s natural resources, how in the big scheme of things government, agribusiness, agricultural academia, and even the farming community have been so drunk on “progress”, on technology, on agricultural exports, and on “feeding the world” that essentially the entirety of the agricultural and grocery sectors have stopped giving a damn about any sort of long-term vision for the future of food and farming in America, not to mention the health of Americans. His is the story of exactly what the book title implies—returning to a place where one begins to care again. To me, that’s profound. It’s profound because I see the same phenomenon around me—farmers stuck in the conventional mentality, not looking further than the current generation, if even that. Agribusiness continually coming up with new ever-more-egregious ways to subvert nature, with no thought of how their innovation helps or hurts our finite natural resources, not to mention the food animals it’s intended for. Even eaters, stuck in a consumeristic mindset that food needs to be pre-prepared and “affordable”, with little thought of how it’s produced or what producing it does to our children’s survivability. Yes, it may be a cultural phenomenon—especially for farmers and eaters, but it’s also the essence of ill-informed and thoughtless decision making. Not giving a damn about things as essential as food and farming, regrettably, is commonplace in America. But let all excuses be gone—if someone as deeply entrenched in chemical conventional farming, as tuned out to what is natural and sustainable, as rough and reckless and irreligious as Will Harris (I mean no disrespect, rather a deep respect for the 180 degree about-face he did) can make a bold return to giving a damn, then any one of us—whether we’re farmers or eaters—can do the same. Never has it been more necessary. And that’s the View from the Country. Quotes Worth Re-Quoting -“The food that came out of the [industrialized] system was artificially cheap - the price was subsidized by the environment, our wildlife and aquatic life, and our bad health. We just couldn’t see those hidden costs - nor could we grasp how future generations would inherit the effects of our extractive, intensive farming methods. When you add up all the ways the bill is coming due, it takes the shine off the glittering promises of postwar industrialized food. The deal we made with our planet, its creatures, and our rural workforces, all so we could enjoy a slightly cheaper hamburger, might just be the worst deal that was ever made.”~ Will Harris Our family and our farm participated in creating the bedrock of rural America, then inadvertently helped to crack that foundation by participating in the industrialized, centralized, commoditized system that rendered rural America close to obsolete. We traded the autonomy of the small farmer for the security that came by scaling up; then we began to risk degradation and disrepair to our land, animals, and community as a result. And we participated in a system that sold consumers a bucolic image of farming that wasn't actually true. ~ Will Harris

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Can MAHA Succeed?

Can MAHA Succeed?

Whether we see it as such or not, MAHA is a movement by the people and for the people. Before it was known as MAHA, it was simply a rising concern among an increasing number of in-the-know people who learned how bad our food, farming, and health situation is in America. The question is; Can it succeed as a government mandate? I may be vilified for my skeptical views on this, but I'm nevertheless, here goes. I believe RFK Jr. will give it his all and will work very hard to make it a success. He has a long-standing passion for children's health, even to the point of hiving up a presidential campaign and joining "the other side" in order to exercise influence in public health. But I’m skeptical that MAHA can be successful to the extent he wishes to make it successful. Don’t read into this what I’m not saying, his intent, as I see it, is sincere and he’s probably the best person for the movement, along with Jay Bhattacharya and Marty Makary. I don’t wish to be paranoid, or to discourage anyone who believes in MAHA. It’s just that I look at the massive agency HHS is, the vast number of people who are part of it (including all the agencies under HHS like FDA and USDA), and I’m skeptical that such a vast organization can meaningfully backtrack from the direction it was pointed for at least thirty years. Not to mention whether the bureaucracy within wants to backtrack. The term “permanent Washington” refers to people in bureaucratic positions who stay there from one presidential administration to another. I think this is more real than most Americans realize. Undoubtedly, there are people within these agencies who are willing to wait out an administration who disagrees with their agenda. This will include people who are willing to give lip service to a sitting president or other leading figure for the sake of appearances, only to continue the previous course (back to the original agenda) when he is gone. I’m with everyone else, watching and waiting hopefully to see what secretary Kennedy is able to achieve on the vaccine front, with food guidelines, regenerative agriculture, and the like. But I'm hopeful in a dubious sort of way. I look at the track record of past agendas like MAHA—programs that are for the people at the expense of government control—and can’t help but being cynical. I think the likelihood for MAHA to be sidetracked from its original intent is extremely high. Yes, there’s the banning of food dyes—a necessary move. There’s a willingness to study Autism, which I endorse. There’s the separation of vaccines (not as many vaccines in a single shot or visit), which is a necessary initial approach. But even so, the chance for the original agenda to be sidetracked by small wins or bright shiny objects is extremely high, in my opinion. Plus, I’m sure RFK Jr. and the people surrounding him know very well that certain agendas will be met with extreme pushback from industry and the lobbying circuit, which, if you’re in that position, it’s always easy to go for the smaller wins at the expense of the bigger ones. The same likelihood for distraction applies to the people who follow MAHA and support the endeavor. When a people’s movement like this one garner presidential and government attention like MAHA has, it’s very easy for the people (even the early supporters) to be so caught up in rah-rah-rah-ing every small “win” that they lose sight of the bigger agenda and real permanent wins. Let’s recognize that we’re hardwired to want to have someone take care of us. Those of us who have opted out know how difficult it is to take the not-so-well-traveled path of finding life-giving real food, of going against a pediatrician’s advice regarding the vaccine schedule, of seeking out alternative health hacks that are poo-poohed by not only the medical industry, but perhaps by family members as well. Therefore, it's quite comforting to see our health strivings go mainstream, being discussed in a presidential campaign, and a celebrated-in-the-health-crowd figure like RFK Jr. being appointed secretary of HHS. But remember, the desire to be taken care of may be stronger than the desire for liberty and independence. Liberty and independence, BTW, require hard work, free thought, and often, ridicule. My concern is that four years, or eight or twelve years roll around, a new administration comes in, and very little has changed that can’t be easily reversed. I hope I’m wrong. The foremost reason for my skepticism is rooted in the fact that MAHA flies directly in the face of the largest and most powerful industries in the country—and perhaps the world. These would include the pharmaceutical industry, the agricultural lobby, the agri-chemical industry, and the American Medical Association. If MAHA goes as it should and treads around on the toes of these industries and the lobbies representing them, and survives the pushback, threats, and ruthlessness, it will be quite a feat. Many of us want to believe RFK Jr. will not compromise, much like the hero many Trump supporters think him to be. But even RFK Jr. must pick his battles, and don’t kid yourself, the battles are real, and the threats, I’m sure, are severe. The industries I mentioned do not handle threats to their agendas with kid gloves. Ruthless is their middle name, and I don’t think they will back away from their long-standing agendas just because RFK Jr. is appointed head of HHS. Plus, the likelihood for the supporters of the movement to become lax because it’s now a government mandate is extremely high. I’m always reminded of Zuby’s “21 things I learned”, which is an excellent short-form recognition of human behavior. Many of the 21 bullet points theoretically apply to this topic. For example, number nineteen, which reads; Modern people are overly complacent and lack vigilance when it comes to defending their own freedoms from government overreach. I think this axiom is true on a much deeper level than most of us recognize. Or number seven; Most people believe the government acts in the best interests of the people. Even many who are vocal critics of the government. Again, this is more widespread than we think. The indoctrination runs deep, and we’re all steeped in the idea of American exceptionalism to the point where we tend to think our government wouldn’t do the things they actually participate in. Perhaps the best one—especially in light of government proceedings—is number twenty; It’s easier to fool a person than to convince them that they have been fooled. To have MAHA sidetracked would certainly not be the first time the people hoped and waited on what they thought was going to be a win for them, only to realize that they had been fooled. The euphoria that takes place among the MAHA supporters as this agenda goes mainstream is a red flag in my opinion. Yes, we should cheer the effort to remedy the problems that plague our national health, food, and farming, but we must remain wide awake and retain a healthy skepticism, because this very “fourth branch of government” is expert at intercepting good agendas. Let’s remember that MAHA began as a movement by the people. Whether or not it succeeds as a government mandate, it is by definition a people’s movement. I daresay it most certainly will not succeed on a governmental level if it doesn’t remain a crusade driven by the people, even though it’s now gone public. The way I see it, this MAHA government mandate may be the best opportunity we have to further solidify the crusade. We have this moment to take advantage of the door of regulation being ajar and practice our God-given food and health freedoms more boldly than ever. This is the moment for our generation to sacrifice other consumeristic desires for the sake of real food and honest healthcare.  If you’re inclined to not vaccinate your children, now is the time to shamelessly inform your doctor or pediatrician, and to stand firm in your decision. If you’re a farmer interested in providing food for the growing number of people seeking unadulterated farm fresh food, now is the time to just do it without too much concern over whether or not your state or county allows it. If you’re an eater who wants to buy raw milk or non-USDA meat, now is the time to push the envelope with your farmer (and your family) without first seeking approval all around. The early stirrings of what is now known as MAHA began with people who took risks with the food police, the vaccine police, and even with their disapproving family members. They were often vilified socially by friends and family and persecuted legally by an overarching layer of bureaucracy. Now that MAHA is mainstream effort, let’s not relax and think we’ve achieved the goal. Let’s accelerate and boldly give this our best shot. It may be the only one we have. And that’s The View from the Country.

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What is Freedom?

What is Freedom?

Today is Independence Day—the day Americans celebrate the birth of the United States of America. It’s the day we revel in the fact that we’re a free nation—a free society. Yes, it’s debatable just how free we are (in many different ways), but I would suggest we’re about as free as allow ourselves to be. Or maybe as we behave ourselves to be. I say “behave” because recently I’ve been thinking about an old quote. Supposedly an old Amish proverb, the quote reads; “Freedom is not the right to do as you please but the liberty to do as you ought.” The reason I’m intrigued by this quote stems from what we’ve seen in American society in recent years, which is a push/pull—even a legal debacle—over issues such as abortion, gay marriage, porn restriction, jobless able-bodied men living on the public dole, and many more controversial issues of our day. Regardless of where you are on these issues, I think we need to recognize that some things—whether or not they pose as liberating the individual or society—do not contribute to real freedom. Freedom, in modern times, is often conflated with the idea of simply doing as we please. But in reality, real freedom comes from living responsibly and morally (as we ought). The quote, I think, hits the proverbial nail squarely on the head in this light. Now, I mentioned some of the heaviest hot-button societal issues of our day, which was deliberate in order to make the point. However, there are many other decisions affecting society that the quote applies to as well. Issues as marginal as farming practices, ultra-processing of food, even poor dietary decisions, that do not liberate us as promised. Many of these practices and products were initially marketed under the guise of liberation but have proven otherwise. Such as the promise that herbicides and pesticides will liberate farmers from the arduous task of weeding, pest management, and proper crop diversity—only to bind them to the ag-industrial complex in ways they were unable to foresee. Or the promise of liberating women from the kitchen via cheap ultra-processed food, resulting in vast society-wide metabolic dysfunction, a raging type II diabetes epidemic, numerous auto-immune diseases, childhood cancers, and the like. Illness, by the way, is a form of slavery—a constraint on one’s life and liberties. The freedoms many of these ideas offer need to be weighed in light of what they will do to us societally and individually. I don’t mean to suggest that all our food, farming, and life decisions are moral decisions in and of themselves, but they are freedom-oriented decisions all the same. We don’t allow our children to simply do as they please, because we know it’s not good for their long-term wellbeing. The same is true for adults, and for society, respectively. Joel Salatin has often posed the question in his books and lectures; “Just because we can, should we?” I think this is an excellent question to ask ourselves, both individually and societally. Just because we can be jobless and live on the public dime, should we? Just because we can take part in a rampantly consumeristic mindset that buys everything just because the neighbors do, should we? Just because we can use so-called “benign” chemicals on our fields and gardens to eradicate pests and weeds, should we? Just because we can live irresponsibly and thoughtlessly, should we? I could go on, and I say these things to myself as much as to anyone. We are not here to simply do as we please. We have responsibilities not only to ourselves, but to future generations and to the overall good of society. Besides, history shows that any society who does as it pleases—culturally, economically, and morally—does not remain free. I fear America is on the crux of that phenomenon. I think holidays are an excellent time to reflect on not only the theme of the holiday, but on our lives as it pertains to the holiday as well. There’s a reason why we remember our deceased loved ones more during a holiday season (memories of past holidays, etc.). Whether it be Christmas, Easter, or the 4th of July, holidays are a time to reflect. Today, let’s think about what contributes to freedom—real freedom—for the most people. Let’s think about the vision our forefathers had for a not only free, but a morally grounded society with the ability to keep those hard-won freedoms. Let's think about what you and I can do to live "as we ought" in order to carry these liberties forward for future generations. Happy Independence Day, and that’s the View from the Country. Quotes worth Re-Quoting ~“Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry his own weight, this is a frightening prospect.”― Eleanor Roosevelt Kelly's definition: "Freedom is not the ability to do whatever you want. Freedom is the strength of character to do what is good, true, noble, and right. Freedom without discipline is impossible."

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